Honor System
Honor might not be the primary commodity of someone living in the Empire, but someone that is without any form of honor will not be living in the Empire for very long, unless he is powerful enough to make his own law. Mechanically, honor depicts how well regarded your character is within a specific subset of the society and within society in general. While the noble and self-sacrifying samurai is the romantic view of the entire warrior caste, very few can live up to this ideal, but quite a few people will react better to you if you do try to live up to it. The courageous gokudo who is ready to give up everything for his brother is bound to get a better reaction from people, even from other circles of society, then the remorseless psychopath. No types of honor are mutually exclusive. Someone can be a Magistrate and have friends and relations in the Ninkyo (a fairly common theme in Japanese fiction), allowing him to do his job better but all the while having a darker side some people should not be aware of. Even someone who leaves a social group usually still retain some form of Honor from it, like many Ronins having both the Ronin and Bushido Honor. Honor rules Your highest Honor score is considered your Primary Honor, and what people naturally consider when meeting you and when you are required to make a generic "honor" roll or use "honor" in an ability or as a response to an ability. Different social situations could require you to use a different Honor score however, and some situations demand that you show a specific type of Honor. It is also important to note that a high Honor score in one type of honor can have negative effect to your social standing at time, like a person with an extremely high Ninkyo Honor trying to deal with high Imperial society, or a high Bushido when trying to deal with worldly-detached Monks. Consider that a Honor score of 4.0 is "what is expected of you". Someone below that threshold should be seen, in general, as someone who at best skirts their duty and at worst, someone who simply ignores them. Someone who is higher than this can be viewed as someone who is diligent in their task and service and someone who is much higher can be viewed as a paragon of the virtues necessary for this particular type of honor. It is important to note, on that matter, that if you do not have a Honor score in a particular type of Honor, you do not have a score of 0.0. You are simply "honorless" and not expected of anything in that particular social circle. Honor types Bushido Bushido Honor is the honor that follows most of the members of the Imperial warrior caste. Built around 7 Key Virtues (Rectitude, Courage, Benevolence, Respect, Honesty, Honor and Loyalty), the Bushido mainly speaks of frugality, loyalty, martial prowess and that death should not be something you are scared of. Someone who would fail in the Bushido is usually expected to perform ritual suicide (seppuku), but this ritual is rarely expected to be carried out except by the most fanatic members of the warrior caste. Many ideas promoted by the Bushido are ideas which puts the warrior caste on a strange pedestal as protector of the weak and downtrodden while being servants to a higher lord at the same time, with the Mikado being the supreme leader of the nation. Most aspiring samurai begin their "career" above what is expected of them, idealistic from their graduation from their dojo and trying to impress everyone they can, but for many, this period in their life is short and difficult, as reality quickly catches up with them. Ninkyo Ninkyo Honor represents the honor amongst those of serving the Chivalrous Organizations, the armed forces of the Merchant Caste, but often also regarded as the primary criminal organizations in the Empire. One of the most basic rule of the Ninkyo is "to never rely on the Warrior Caste, Bureaucracy or Magistrature", with all conflicts within the organization and without it should be resolved by your own hand. Another basic rule is that all members of your Ninkyo are members of the same family, with the leader of the organization being the father-figure to all the other members. This is often represented with ritual adoption of all new members. To lie to another member of the organization, to steal from him or cause him grief or to not maintain the highest standards of conduct while within the organization is also very poorly seen. Finally, the will of the organization should always take precedence over your own personal life. Magistrate Magistrate Honor represents how well a magistrate acts in regards to his station and duty. The most basic part of this code of honor is to be willing to serve the Bureaucracy and Imperial family above all else, including your own family and obligations. While this can be viewed as very close to the Bushido, the Magistrates usually take this devotion to work one step further, but also ignore the duty onto death part of the Bushido, as they are willing to serve at all time rather than die because of their apparent failings. Important parts of the Magistrate code of conduct is to never betray their role as keeper of the peace, to never betray their integrity and the trust of the citizens of the Empire, be accountable for both your actions and the actions of the others serving with you and have a complete respect for the laws of the land. A big difference between this and the Bushido is this: the Bushido often talks of your own personal action, the Magistrate honor talks of the actions of your entire team. Bureaucrat Monk Onmyou Ronin Imperial House Spirit Fae Peasant Peasant honor is the lowest type of Honor someone can acquire, representing the honor of the average Imperial citizen, which basically revolves around "working hard and paying taxes". No player character should have Peasant Honor as their primary honor, unless they are specifically built that way. Almost all Imperial peasants can be seen as being between 3.5 to 4.5 in this type of Honor, as everyone has failings and personal desires that go outside of the basic tenants of this Honor. Category:L5R Rule conversion Category:Ruleset